Goat Rocks

In August 2017, we did a three-day, two-night backpack trip in Goat Rocks Wilderness within Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington. John was 64 and I was 63.

We knew smoke from wildfires could obscure views of distant mountains, but the temperatures were in the 90s in the lowlands, so primarily we just wanted to get to a higher elevation for cooler temperatures.

We started out on the Snowgrass Hikers Trail. It was quite warm and we didn’t really see any smoke, but as we began to gain elevation, we could smell it and both of us had more trouble breathing. It was nothing serious; we just needed to maintain a very slow pace. However, it was demoralizing because the flies were voracious, and at such a slow pace, we were easy targets.

We did our best to find the bright side and made a point of thoroughly enjoying the wildflowers.

We camped on Snowgrass Flats …

… tucking our tent within the shade of the large rocks to the right in the above photo.

We made good use of our wind shirts to thwart the bugs.

After setting up camp, we did a short hike …

… and continued to enjoy the wildflowers.

We got on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and headed toward Old Snowy Mountain.

Again, we admired the local views …

… as when I looked in the distance, all I saw was haze.

The PCT skirts Old Snowy, but snow can make it treacherous …

… and some choose to take the alternate route that goes across the crest of Old Snowy.

There was still a fair amount of snow for early August …

… but it wasn’t an issue for us.

We didn’t hike to the top of Old Snowy that evening. There just wasn’t any point to it as the smoke and haze obscured all the distant mountains. It was a bit frustrating as I knew Mount Rainier was out there somewhere. Fortunately, John had clear weather when he did his trip in 2014 and took many beautiful photos such as this one.

In fact, he got to see Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier from the same spot.

We headed back to camp …

… passing some unusual rock on the way.

The next morning, we headed to Cispus Basin …

… and passed several lovely little waterfalls along the way.

These, along with the wildflowers, helped to compensate for the lack of distant mountain views.

We continued and then went off the trail to look for a campsite higher up in the basin.

We set up our tent behind the smallest clump of trees in the middle of the photo below.

It was a great campsite: shade, a breeze, nearby water, and a gorgeous view.

We also had quite a few neighbors, the largest herd of mountain goats we have ever seen.

We counted at least 48.

After grazing in the hot sun, they went to cool off by lying down on the snow.

That afternoon, we did a short hike …

… up to Cispus Pass for a view of Gilbert Peak.

After returning to camp, John went out to do photography in the golden evening light.

This is a particularly beautiful mountain stream, and I love the way John photographed it, contrasting the rough rock with the fluid movement of the water.

The next day, the air seemed clearer, at least up where we were.

We even got a brief look at Mount Adams before we hiked out.

Unfortunately, smoke from wildfires is becoming a new normal in the western U.S. This isn’t the first time one of our backpack trips has been negatively impacted by it and I doubt it will be the last. We will just have to come back under better conditions. The area warrants it.

All photos from this trip are on Flickr.